Drew Allen Has “No Regrets” In Decision To Leave Oklahoma Sooners


Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

It didn’t really come to a surprise to many when former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Drew Allen announced he had plans to transfer for the 2013 football season. Allen has been a back-up for the Sooners for the last four seasons and with Blake Bell likely being the QB taking over for Landry Jones, Allen finally felt it was time to move on.

Allen will graduate from Oklahoma in May and plans on heading to Syracuse to compete for their starting quarterback position. Like the Sooners, the Orange is in need of a starting quarterback due to Ryan Nassib heading to the NFL.

Allen recently did an interview with ESPN’s Sooner Nation discussing his decision to head north to finish his college football career.

Highlighted questions included:

Q: What other schools did you look at?

Allen: Throughout the process, I didn’t really focus on schools, I was looking more so at what schools were looking at me, that would be willing to give me an opportunity and privilege to be able to use my last year to come play for them. Once I figured out who those schools were, I was able to narrow it down.

Q: Who did you narrow it down to?

Allen: It really came down to Syracuse and NC State. I visited both schools. In the end I chose Syracuse. I really liked what  Nassib did, the direction of the program. They’re moving from the Big East to the ACC, the strength of schedule is favorable for exposure. If we win those games, we put ourselves in a good position to be a nationally-ranked team. The coaches were great. The schemes and type of offense (Orange offensive coordinator George McDonald) is going to run there really fits me, and is pretty much a carryover from what we’ve done at OU. The same kind of stuff.

Q: Seems like you were in an ongoing competition with Blake Bell for a couple years, right?

Allen:  Even after my junior year in high school when I was a starter, I was still in a competition. Coming in here, I thought it would be a great opportunity with Sam Bradford here, to learn from him. There was another guy on the roster in Landry (Jones). I figured if Sam stayed and played the whole year (in 2009), Landry and I would compete for the job the next season. But Sam got hurt and Landry established himself. But I still and always have prepared like I’m going to be the No. 1 guy. I’m going to continue to do that in football and in life.

Allen went on to discuss working with George Whitfield, when he knew he wanted to transfer and how he thinks the current Sooners quarterback race will pan out.

When Allen was first up for Jones’ back-up position, a lot of people thought he was the shoe-in choice. There was nothing but chatter about how great he was and that his arm was amazing. When Bell came in and stepped up during the spring workouts and the offensive coaches decided to utilize the “Belldozer” package – that was the end of Allen as the No. 2 guy discussion.

If Allen does get the chance to take over the starting position at Syracuse, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be very successful there. The Orange are getting a great quarterback with a very dynamic arm.

 

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